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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2026-06-12
Steps: Set Up Class Standing Policies

Steps: Set Up Class Standing Policies

Security:
Set Up: Academic Policies
 domain in the Academic Foundation functional area.
You can use class standings to describe a student's progress toward completing their reporting record. Examples: First Year, Sophomore, 3L. Workday calculates separate class standings for Student Records and Financial Aid based on the policies you create.
You can configure policies to calculate the class standing based on:
  • The number of units or academic periods a student completes.
  • Additional eligibility rules that students must meet.
Example: To move from first year to second year, students must complete at least 30 units and achieve a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher.
For Financial Aid, you can define the federal student aid grade levels to assign on the class standing policies. Workday:
  • Considers a student’s projected enrollment from their entire attendance plan when calculating the Financial Aid class standing.
  • Uses this class standing when anticipating and awarding financial aid.
You can configure class standing policies to apply to:
  • An academic unit and level. The policy applies to all programs of study in the academic unit and subordinate academic units.
  • A specific program of study.
Workday automatically calculates class standing for students at:
  • Matriculation.
  • Submission or change of final grades.
  • Transfer credit evaluation.
  1. Access the
    Maintain Class Standing Values
     task.
    Enter labels for class standing definitions that your institution uses. For class standing definitions that you don’t want to use, you can:
    • Delete the label text. Workday displays these class standing definitions as blank.
    • Add a note to the label. Example:
      1L (Do Not Use)
      .
  2. Create eligibility rules for class standing rules that use eligibility rule-based progression.
    You can apply these types of eligibility rules to class standings:
    • Combination
    • Grade Requirement
    • Program of Study
    • Student Cohort
    • Unit Requirement
  3. Access the
    Maintain Class Standing Policy
     task.
    1. For the award year 2026-2027, in the
      As of Effective Date
       prompt, select the standard start date of the earliest financial aid period record of the 2026-2027 award year.
      You can use the
      Find Class Standing Policies With Invalid Graduate/Professional Grade Levels
       task (secured to the
      Set Up: Academic Policies
       domain) to find all active class standing policy snapshots on or after 2026-01-01 that have invalid graduate/professional grade levels.
    2. Select how you want Workday to calculate class standing:
      • Unit Based Progression
         to calculate class standing by the number of units the student completes. Workday considers units from all completed registrations of all types, including internally articulated registrations, reactivated historical credit, and transfer credit.
      • Period Based Progression
         to calculate class standing by students’ academic periods. Workday only counts the academic periods from the academic period types that you select in the
        Included Academic Period Types
         prompt.
    3. As you complete the
      Class Standing Rules
       grid, consider:
      Option
      Description
      Minimum (Units/Periods)
      Enter the minimum number of units or academic periods students must complete to earn the class standing.
      For the lowest class standing, specify a
      Minimum (Units/Periods)
       value of zero, to ensure that Workday assigns a class standing to every student.
      When multiple rules have the same
      Minimum (Units/Periods)
       value, Workday considers the rule with the higher
      Order
      .
      Class Standing
      Select the class standing to assign to students when they reach the minimum units or periods.
      Federal Student Aid Grade Level
      Select the federal student aid grade level that corresponds to the student's class standing for the academic period.
      For award years 2026-2027 and later, ensure you complete step 3a and then select one of these options:
      • Graduate
      • Professional
      You can also use the
      Put Class Standing Policy
       web service to bulk assign grade levels to students.
    4. (Optional) Select the
      Eligibility Rule Based Progression
       check box to use eligibility rules to determine class standings as an alternative method for
      Class Standing Rules
      .
      If enabling
      Eligibility Rule Based Progression
      , the
      Class Standing Rules
       calculation ignores
      Unit Based Progression
       or
      Period Based Progression
       configuration.
      You’ll still have to set up
      Class Standing Rules
       for Financial Aid, as Financial Aid doesn’t support
      Eligibility Rule Based Progression
      .
      As you complete the
      Class Standing Rules (for Academic Period Records Only)
       grid, consider:
      Option
      Description
      Order
      Specify the most restrictive rule at the top of the grid. Workday evaluates the rules from top to bottom, and assigns class standings based on the first applicable rule.
      Current Class Standing
      On the lowest
      Order
       rule in the grid, specify a blank value for
      Current Class Standing
      . This rule enables Workday to assign class standings to students without a class standing. Examples: Recently matriculated students and transfer students.
      Eligibility Rule
      Specify the eligibility rule that students must meet before receiving a new class standing.
      For the highest possible class standing, create an eligibility rule that’s impossible to meet. Select the same class standing as the
      New Class Standing
       to hold students at the highest class standing. Example: For students with a current class standing of
      Senior
      :
      • Create an eligibility rule that requires students to complete 10,000 units.
      • Select a
        New Class Standing
         of
        Senior
        .
Workday calculates class standing on academic records based on the effective class standing policy that applies for the student’s primary program of study.
You can view the class standing policies on the
Academic Unit Policy Viewer
 report.
Refresh any academic records impacted by changes to a class standing policy. See Steps: Manage Class Standing for Students.
You can create eligibility rules based on class standing. Example: Create courses that are only available to students with a
Senior
 class standing. On a student eligibility rule, use the
Latest Class Standing
 report field on the Academic Record business object.